Two years ago, the rustic innocence of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State was shattered by rampaging Boko Haram terrorists, who had one deadly mission: to kidnap as many students as possible.
Heavily armed terrorists, riding on motorcycles and trucks, burst into the school in the dead of the night and kidnapped hundreds of students.
The heartless invaders also proceeded to burn down the school before leaving with the children who were roused from sleep. The invaders took advantage of the fact that the pupils were in the middle of West African School Certificate examinations and that the school was filled with pupils.
Curiously, there was no security presence around the school to counter the offensive, resulting in one of Nigeria’s most embarrassing incidents. Though news of the kidnap broke on social media within a few hours, the political and security authorities of the country failed to act decisively.
Despite assurances by the military high command that they were on the trail of the kidnappers and would rescue the girls. high hopes about the rescue began to dim when President Goodluck Jonathan failed to act decisively, despite credible evidence that some of the girls escaped. Eventually, no fewer than 216 girls were identified as having been kidnapped.
The incident sparked off a global campaign championed by world figures such as the United States first lady, Michelle Obama. A hashtag #bringbackourgirls also circulated globally while a movement soon developed around the issue.
That was how the Bring Back Our Girls movement was born. The movement championed by civil rights activist, Hadiza Usman, and former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has since held protest marches and sitouts in Lagos and Abuja to sustain global attention on the issue.
Their attempts to meet with Jonathan were rebuffed by security agents. Though some ministers and senior Jonathan administration officials addressed them during one of the protest marches, it was to the bewilderment of Nigerians that statements from some of them virtually dismissed the incident as non-existent.
The parents of the girls have not been left out of the campaigns for their release, calling out regularly for global attention to the unresolved issue. Boko Haram at different times used the girls as pawns in their pretentious attempts to negotiate their release.
Infact, the former leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, had in a video displayed some of the girls at an undisclosed location and threatened to sell them off. Also, there have been reported attempts by government to negotiate with elements within the group for the girls’ release but these have not yielded fruit.
Given the failure of the Jonathan administration to rescue the girls, it was with high hopes that Nigerians welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration day to ensure the quick release of the girls.
Though he met with parents of then girls and BBOG, his inability to return the 216 children is a major blot on his administration’s first year record. Recently, a teenage girl captured by Cameroonian forces claimed she was one of the Chibok girls. She was eventually discovered to have been kidnapped from Bama, another town in Borno State.
Since the girls were shown in Shekau’s video, there have been reported sightings of the hostages in different places, including Sambisa forest and Southern Libya. Some media reports have also indicated that the girls have been used as sex slaves or suicide bombers. An international coalition that was raised by the US and Britain reported sighting the girls in 2014 but failed to act because there was no request from Abuja.
There are a number of lessons to learn from the saga. The key one is the poor attitude of Nigerian leaders to the safety and security of citizens. The tokenism with which ex-President Jonathan treated the matter gave his administration out as uncaring and unmoved by the incident. It was made worse by the fact that teenage girls were involved.
Nigeria failed these innocents in their hour of need. Reports suggested that many of the girls would have been rescued if there was a determined pursuit of the terrorists. Second, that ex-President Jonathan chose to fly from Abuja to Kano for a campaign rally hours after the incident demonstrated a gross disdain for citizens of his own country.
Third, the many attempts by Nigerian government officials and political sympathisers to water down the incident apparently emboldened the terrorists to continue to kidnap more people from other communities. It is noteworthy that the issue has not disappeared from global consciousness. The countdown has remained consistent.
It is hoped that someday, the clock will tick to the hour when the Chibok girls finally return to their families and the sad episode is brought to a closure.

Those behind the controversial and dangerous grazing Bill are pushing the erroneous argument that it will help in checking the incessant attacks of armed Fulani herdsmen on farming communities in many parts of the country.
For nearly fifteen years, the attacks, which started in the Plateau areas later spread to Nasarawa, Benue anda number of states in the South, with herdsmen boldly brandishing sophisticated weapons unchecked by the law enforcement agencies.
They invade communities, lead their livestock into farms, break into people’s landed property and displace people from their communities. They kill, maim, kidnap, rob, rape and harass citizens with reckless abandon. An indication that the Muhammadu Buhari regime is mulling the establishment of grazing reserves nationwide emerged recently when the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Audu Ogbeh, disclosed that the President had directed him to establish the reserves in the North, and then “move South”. Already, at least two Bills are reportedly being considered in the House of Representatives, though the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has denied the existence of such in the National Assembly. The Bills in question are attributed to Hon Sunday Karimi (PDP Kogi) and Hon Sadiq Ibrahim (APC Adamawa), with an executive Bill reportedly being expected from the Presidency soon. A version of the reported Bills, which is circulating in the social media is a barefaced recipe for national disaster if it is allowed to see the light of day. It provides for a National Grazing Commission, which will have the power to confiscate people’s land in all parts of the country, pay them compensation and hand such over to Fulani pastoralists. People who disagree with the confiscation can only sue if the Attorney General of the Federation grants them the permission to do so. We call, once again, for all moves towards the establishment of grazing reserves and cattle routes to be halted forthwith. The opposition to it is mounting from all corners of the country because it will seize land from indigenous communities and hand them over to pastoralists, which will smack of ethnic expansionism. It will violate the constitutional rights of Nigerians and set the stage for conflicts which the army might have difficulty in controlling. Such a Bill is capable of destroying the unity of the country. It should not even be tabled for debates at the National Assembly because it will polarise the country and possibly lead to unpleasant consequences. We restate our call for the modernisation of animal farming practices in Nigeria through a ranching policy that conforms to world standards. This will increase productivity, give herdsmen access to better life and eliminate ethno-religious conflicts between pastoralists and farmers. We reject the grazing Bill.

EXCUSES by functionaries of the Buhari administration for failure to light up homes and supply energy to the industries are unacceptable. After 11 months in office, the administration last week said it had been hit by inadequate supply of gas for the turbines, owing largely to vandalisation of pipelines to the thermal power stations.
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, told a bewildered nation that, of the 140 turbines in the country, only 40 was functional. More alarming was the disclosure by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, that on a particular day, the power generating plants all collapsed, and only less than one per cent electricity could be supplied.
The government should realise that Nigerians did not elect them to churn out excuses. Complaints and reasons for non-performance are the easiest thing to do.  President Muhammadu Buhari was elected to replace the inept President Goodluck Jonathan administration because the All Progressives Congress (APC) provided an alternative plan to make the country work. One of the areas of the campaign that caught the attention of the electorate was the promise to ensure that power, which is central to tackling poverty and improving the quality of life is tackled within the first year.
No sooner was the administration inaugurated than it claimed that power had become more stable, even when it was obvious that no fresh thinking had gone into generation, transmission and distribution systems. We warned then that the victory being touted could only be sustained if new policies were put in place and known hurdles removed. The recent collapse vindicates that position.
The excuse that vandals are disrupting supply of gas to the power plants is untenable. It is as  annoying as the contention that fuel is not available for domestic consumption as a result of diversion to neighbouring countries. It is the duty of government to secure vital installations nationwide with minimal disruptions to activities.
We therefore call on the Federal Government to quickly fix the problems. Apart from security breach, other challenges arising from pricing of gas, payment of displaced workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who have been picketing some distribution companies and supply of pre-paid meters should be looked into and resolved.
Interesting as the promise to ensure that licensed companies begin to generate electricity from renewable sources before the end of this year may be, the government should realise that the people will prefer that action speaks directly to them, not words that have failed many times. A lot could be done with generation of power from coal, wind, solar and bio-fuels, but it requires hard work. The three older hydro stations in Shiroro, Kainji and Jebba should not be neglected to the point that they, too, would fail to deliver. A review of the privatisation scheme and the road map inherited from the Jonathan administration with a view to checking the technical competence and financial strength of those to whom distribution was sold should be undertaken, too.
We appreciate the performance of the power minister in Lagos which probably recommended him for the job and the promise he has made to complete 47 new power projects inherited from the previous government; but Nigerians would be better assured if at the end of this year when the Buhari administration would have been close to its second anniversary, it has delivered on half the pledges it made regarding the power sector. Its present slow motion would lead nowhere.

This year’s May Day activities in Nigeria were marked with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) jointly tabling a demand for the upward review of the national minimum wage from N18,000 to N56,000. A rival faction of the NLC led by Comrade Joe Ajaero simultaneously demanded N90,000. Labour hinges its demands, despite the parlous state of the economy, on the grounds that a minimum wage review is long overdue. They grumble over the steep rises in the costs of electricity, petroleum products, food items and the general inflationary trends in the economy in the past one year. These came at a time the 36 governors had just visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja asking for another lifeline, the second within ten months. It will be recalled that President Buhari yielded to pressure from the governors and approved a N804.7 billion bailout, which was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September 2015. But in November 2015, barely two months after the bailout, the governors, through the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, announced that with 24 states unable to pay salaries, they could no longer pay even the N18,000 minimum wage. The stage is set for a prolonged and protracted Labour dispute, which will surely worsen the state of the economy. Labour groups lament that the Federal Government as well as the state Chief Executives have continued to live large in spite of the economic crunch. They have continued to maintain large retinues of political appointees, moving around in chartered aircraft and generally refusing to limit public spending. They argue that if the government cuts down on excesses there would be enough to go round. Though we regret the refusal of the Presidency, governors and the legislative arms of government to trim down their overheads and lifestyle, we are convinced that this alone will not release enough funds to finance a new minimum wage. The challenge staring us in the face requires something far more radical and profound. The Federal and State governments are going bankrupt because an over-centralised economy that depends on oil as the major foreign exchange earner has become unsustainable. Even if oil prices rebound to the historic levels of 2012/2013, the problem will only hide for a while until the prices crash again. It is time to restructure and adopt fiscal federalism. We should transfer the power to manage the economy from the Federal Government to the federating units, which will pay taxes to the Centre. We should also re-examine the hugely expensive Presidential system of governance. Unless something dramatic is done about the economy,we might be facing a system implosion.
Culled: Vanguard